A federal judge gave the green light to tonight’s scheduled auction of a Picasso painting worth up to $60 million – tossing out claims by an heir to the portrait’s former owner that the Nazis forced its sale in 1935.

Yesterday’s ruling by Manhattan federal Judge Jed Rakoff scrapped a last-minute lawsuit against the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation – owner of “Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto” since 1995 – and lifted a temporary restraining order blocking the sale.

The judge found that federal law did not apply to the case, but left room for a state-court suit.

Lawyers for Julius Schoeps, heir to Berlin banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, said they would scramble to file a state complaint today seeking return of the painting more than 70 years after the fact.

As it stands, Christie’s is set to auction the portrait in its Impressionist and Modern Art sale, where bids could hit $60 million.

Schoeps’ lawyers have acknowledged the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family initiated the 1935 sale, but claimed the family was under duress due to Nazi persecution.